Apparatus for assembling a motor brush

ABSTRACT

Lead wire extending from motor brush is inserted through coil spring and spring is compressed. Thereafter, terminal is crimped onto end portion of lead wire and holds spring between terminal and brush in a compressed condition. Motor brush with spring and terminal assembled to the lead wire is mounted in housing. The housing is mounted in electric motor in a manner such that brush bears against commutator.

United States Patent Kenneth Foster Folk;

Milton Dean Ross, both of Harrisburg, Pa.

June 24, I969 July 27, I971 AMP Incorporated Harrisburg, Pa.

Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 696,512, Jan. 9, 1968, now abandoned.

Inventors Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee APPARATUS FOR ASSEMBLING A MOTOR BRUSH 8 Claims, 4| Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 29/203 R,

29/630 E Int. Cl H0lr 39/26 Field of Search ..29/203, 203

C, 225, 241, 597, 628, 630 E, 33 K [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS l,3l9,751 10/1919 Becker 29/630 E 1,708, l 93 4/ l 929 Sherwood i. 29/630 E Primary ExaminerGranville Y. Custer, Jr.

AtlomeysCurtis, Morris and Safford, William .I. Keating,

William Hintze, Frederick W. Raring, Adrian 1. La Rue, Jay L. Seitchik and John P. Vandenburg ABSTRACT: Lead wire extending from motor brush is inserted through coil spring and spring is compressed. Thereafter, terminal is crimped onto end portion of lead wire and holds spring between terminal and brush in a compressed condition. Motor brush with spring and terminal assembled to the lead wire is mounted in housing. The housing is mounted in electric motor in a manner such that brush bears against commutator.

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sum is of 15 xwh dk l@@ l- N mmN PATENTEU M27 8?! SHEET 18 [1F 16 mwwmmb 885 APPARATUS FOR ASSEMBLING A MOTOR BRUSH This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 696,572, filed .Ian. 9, I968 now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is common practice in the art of manufacturing electric motors to spring bias the motor brushes against the commutator so that as the brushes are worn away, they will remain in contact with the surface of the commutator. A preferred method of achieving this result is to pass the lead wire extending from the brush through a coil spring, compress the spring, and secure a terminal to the lead wire, the terminal being of a size sufficient to retain the compressed coil spring on the wire and against the brush. The brush, with the terminal and spring on its lead wire, is then positioned in a suitable housing which, in turn, is mounted in the motor in a manner such that the spring always bears against the brush to press the surface of the brush against the surface of the commutator. It has been common practice in the past to perform the operations of as sembling the spring to the lead wire and securing the terminal to the end of the lead wire manually. This manual method is relatively slow and expensive for the reason that the technician must hold the spring in a compressed condition while he secures the lead wire to the terminal by soldering or crimping.

The present invention is directed to the achievement of an automatic or semiautomatic method and apparatus for assembling a compressed coil spring to a motor brush lead wire and securing a terminal to the end of the wire. An object of the invention is, therefore, to provide an improved method of assembling a spring to a motor brush lead wire and crimping a terminal onto the end of the wire. A further object is to provide an apparatus which can be operated by an unskilled or semiskilled technician and which will produce a seccession of brush-terminaI-spring assemblies in which the lead wire lengths will be uniform. A still further object is to provide a method of assembling a compressed coil spring to a lead wire and crimping a terminal onto the lead wire which can be performed with the crimping press or which can be performed automatically.

These and other objects of the invention are achieved in a preferred apparatus embodiment comprising a crimping press having a spring assembling apparatus mounted adjacent thereto. The brush, having a lead wire extending therefrom, is positioned in the assembling apparatus and the spring is located'adjacentto the brush. A threading rod is moved relatively through the spring while the lead wire is held by the threading rod thereby to thread the wire through the spring. After threading, a portion of the lead wire is located in the crimping press in a position such that a terminal can be crimped onto it. The spring is compressed during this interval so that after a terminal is crimped onto the wire the terminal retains the compressed coil spring between itself and the surface of the brush.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the spacial relationship of the terminal to the coil spring, the motor brush, the lead wire extending from the motor brush, and the threading rod at the beginning of the operating cycle;

FIGS. 2-5 are views similar to FIG. I but showing the positions of the parts at various stages of the operating cycle;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view ofa finished assembly comprising a brush, a lead wire extending from the brush, a terminal on the end of the lead wire, and a coil spring compressed between the terminal and the brush;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view with parts broken away showing the manner in which the brush-terminal assembly of FIG. 6 is positioned in a brush holder, it being understood that this holder, in turn, is placed in the electric motor;

FIG. 8 is a front view of a preferred form of the invention showing the end portion of the assembling apparatus and the crimping dies, the crimping anvils, and the feed finger;

FIG. 9 is a plan view of the spring assembling apparatus and showing the lower tooling of the applicator, the parts being shown in this view in the positions they occupy at the beginning of the operating cycle; I

FIG. 9A is a fragmentary plan view of the central portion of the assembling apparatus and showing the positions of the parts at the beginning of the wire threading operation;

FIG. 9B is a plan view similar to FIG. 9 but showing the positions of the parts after the spring has been compressed and before crimping ofthe terminal onto the lead wire;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the assembly apparatus;

FIG. 11 is a side view of the rearward side of the assembly apparatus;

FIG. 12 is a front view of the assembly apparatus, FIGS. 11 and 12 being taken along the lines 11-11 and l212 of FIG. 9;

FIG. 13 is a view taken along the lines 13-13 of FIG. 98 with the parts broken away in the interest of clarity;

FIG. 13A is a view similar to FIG. 13 but with some parts removed to more clearly show the structure at a base block and wire aligning mechanism;

FIG. 14 is a view taken along the lines 14-14 of FIG. 9;

FIG. 15 is a semischematic perspective view of an apparatus in accordance with an alternative embodiment of the invention, this view showing the positions of the parts at the beginning of the operating cycle;

FIGS. 16 and 17 are views similar to FIG. 15 but showing the positions of the part at successive stages of the operating cycle;

FIG. 18 is a perspective view of a short section of terminal strip, the terminals of which are adapted to be applied to lead wires by the apparatus of FIGS. 24-35;

FIG. 19 is a side view showing the positions of some of the I essential parts of the embodiment of FIGS. 24-35 at the beginning of the operating cycle of that embodiment;

FIGS. 20-23 are views similar to FIG. 19 but showing the positions of the parts at successive stages of the operating cycle.

F IGS. 24A and 24B present a side view of a further embodiment of the invention, these two figures being adapted to be positioned against each other to show the entire apparatus;

FIGS. 25A and 25B present a top plan view of the embodiment ofFIGS. 24A and 24B;

FIGS. 26A and 26B present a sectional side view of the apparatus of FIGS. 24A and 24B taken along the lines 26-26 of FIGS. 25A and 25B;

FIGS. 27-30 are views similar to FIG. 24A but showing the positions of the parts at successive stages of the operating cycle;

FIGS. 31 and 32 are sectional views taken along the lines 31-31 and 32-32 of FIG. 24A;

FIG. 33 is a sectional view taken along the lines 33-33 of FIG. 30;

FIG. 34 is a view taken along the lines 34-34 of FIG. 24B; and

FIG. 35 is a view taken along the lines 35-35 of FIG. 29.

Referring first to FIG. 6, the disclosed embodiment of the invention is adapted to assemble a coil spring 6 to the lead wire 2 of a motor brush 4, compress the coil spring, and crimp a terminal 8 onto the lead wire. The terminal 8 has a flat platelike section 10, a ferrule portion 20 integral with the plate portion, and a depending flange 12. The platelike section 10 has a central opening 16 through which the wire extends and a slot 18 by means of which the wire is admitted to the opening 16 at the time of assembly. One end of the compressed coil spring bears against the underside of the plate portion 10 of the terminal and the other end bears against the brush 4. The terminals are advantageously provided in the form of a continuous strip as shown in FIG. 1, each terminal being connected to the next adjacent terminal by a connecting slug 19 which is removed at the time of crimping.

The brush-spring-terminal assembly of FIG. 6 is mounted in a cylindrical brush holder 22 (FIG. 7) having a liner 24 extending axially therethrough. The flange portion of the terminal is secured by a screw to the brush holder on its right hand end as viewed in FIG. 7 so that the brush emerges from the left-hand end of the liner. This brush holder is mounted in an electric motor in a manner such that the face of the brush bears against the commutator of the motor and is urged against the surface of the commutator by the compressed coil spring 6.

The essential steps of the method aspect of the invention are illustrated in FIGS. 15. At the beginning ofthe operating cycle, the leading terminal of the strip of terminals will be positioned on a suitable anvil and the brush 4 is located in an assembling fixture (described in detail below) with its lead wire extending transversely of the path of reciprocation of a threading rod 26. The threading rod has a slot 28 in its forward end (FIG. 10) and a pin 30 extends transversely through this slot. The spring 6 is also located in the assembling fixture and in alignment with the rod 26. The rod is moved against the wire so that an intermediate portion of the lead wire 2 is cap tured in the slot 28 and bent around the pin 30. As the rod moves through the spring 6, the brush and the lead wire are carried relatively towards the crimping zone (which appears at the left in FIG. 2). The spring is moved against an abutment 162 so that it is compressed by the time the rod 26 travels through the spring. After the rod comes to rest and the pin 30 is in alignment with the ferrule portion of the terminal, a wire pulling pin 34 moves downwardly and into a recess 36 on the side of the rod 26. This wire pulling pin 34 moves, in a plane above the plane of the terminal 8, along an arcuate path as illustrated in FIG. 3 until an intermediate portion of the lead wire 2 extends above, and in alignment with, the ferrule portion 20 of the terminal. The wire is then lowered into the ferrule portion 20 of the terminal and the ferrule is crimped onto the portion of the lead wire which extends between the pins 30, 34. The lead wire is thereafter cut by a suitable shearing blade 38, the rod 26 retracts (FIG. 5) and the compressed spring expands so that its ends bear against the terminal and the end of the brush 4. The wire is then slid through the slot 18 in terminal portion 10 and positioned in the opening 16 so that the end of the spring bears against the underside of the plate portion 10 of the terminal.

The essential steps of the method of the invention as described above can be carried out with a relatively simple fixture mounted on the side ofa suitable terminal applicator. Alternativcly, the invention can be practiced with an automatic or semiautomatic applicator and assembling apparatus of the type which will now be described.

Referring to FIGS. 8 and 9, a preferred apparatus embodiment of the invention comprises an electrical terminal applicator 44 having an assembly apparatus 45 mounted thereon for inserting the lead wire 2 through the coil spring 6, compressing the spring and locating a portion of the lead wire in alignment with an uncrimped terminal on the anvil of the applicator. The assembly apparatus 45 comprises a generally prismatic frame block 48 mounted on a suitable bracket 46 secured to the press platen 42, the frame block extending generally rightwardly from the crimping zone of the applicator as shown in FIG. 9. Frame block 48 has a channel 50 on its upper side, the sides of which are defined by an upstanding wall 106 on the rearward side of frame block 48 and a cover plate 52 secured to the front side of the block.

The previously identified threading rod 26 is disposed in the channel 50 and is secured at its rearward end to a slide block 54 which is disposed at the right hand end, as viewed in FIG. 9, of the channel at the beginning of the operating cycle. A connecting plate 56 is secured to the underside of the slide block 54 and extends laterally through a slot 66 past the rearward side 62 of the frame block. Connecting plate 56 is suitably secured to a drive block 64 (FIG. 11) which has a recess 65 on its rearwardly facing surface. A clamping plate 68 is secured by fasteners in this recess and this clamping plate serves to clamp the end of a clevis 70 to the drive block. Clevis 70 is mounted on the end of a relatively elongated piston rod 72 of a pneumatic piston cylinder, the piston rod 72 and the piston cylinder extending generally parallel to the rearward side 62 of the frame block 48. Piston-cylinder 74 extends beyond the frame block toward the press frame and is suitably mounted on the press frame by a support bracket, not specifically shown. It will thus be apparent that upon relative movement of the piston rod 72 into the piston cylinder 74, the drive block 64 and the primary slide 54 will be moved towards applicator 44.

The motor brush 4 is mounted in a U-shaped cradle 76 which extends laterally with respect to the frame block. Cradle 76 has an upstanding flange 77 (FIG. 10) at its inner end, this flange having a downwardly extending wire receiving notch 79. The lead wire 2 extending from the brush 4 is positioned in this notch and led across the channel 50 so that it extends transversely with respect to the threading rod 26 as shown in FIG. 9. The wire is held by means of a spring holder which will be described below. The cradle 76 has an integral transversely extending mounting car 78 by means of which it is secured to a secondary slide member 84 disposed in the channel 50. A latch plate 80 is positioned against the car 78 and the ear and the latch plate are secured to the side of the secondary slide 84 by suitable fasteners 81. The secondary slide has a longitudinally extending bore through which the threading rod 26 is movable. At the beginning of the cycle, the threading rod is in this bore with its forward end disposed behind the lead wire 2 extending across the channel.

The secondary slide 84 has a integral laterally extending ear 88 at its rearward end. This ear extends through the previously identified slot 66 and is secured to a block 90 disposed ad jacent to the rearward surface of the frame block. A pin 92, adjustably positioned in block 90, has an enlarged head 93 which is opposed to the head of a screw 96 threaded through the drive block 64. At the beginning of the operating cycle, the head of the screw 96 will be spaced rearwardly from the head 93 of the pin 92 so that the primary slide 54 will be permitted to move towards the operating zone for a short distance before the screw 96 engages the pin 92 and the secondary slide 84 starts moving towards the crimping zone of the applicator 44. During this interval, the threading rod moves against the wire and forms a bight in the wire as illustrated in FIG. 2.

At the conclusion of the operating cycle, the secondary slide 84 must be returned to its starting position (FIG. 9). This is accomplished by means of a chain 98, the end of which is mounted on a pin 99 in the block 90. This chain extends along the rearward side of the frame block 48, over a sprocket wheel 100, and has its other end fastened to one end of an elongated coil spring 102, see FIG. 11. This coil spring extends towards the press frame and is suitably anchored on the press frame. During movement of the secondary slide towards the operating zone, spring 102 is stretched and returns to its normal position when the secondary slide is retracted from the position of FIG. 98 to the position of FIG. 9. The limit of rearward movement of the secondary slide is determined by a suitable stop shoulder formed on the front plate and adapted to bear against the latching plate 80 as shown in FIG. 9.

As previously noted, the lead wire must be held as shown in FIG. 9 with its axis extending across the channel 50. The wire is held in this position by a retainer spring 108 which is mounted on a fastener 112 adjacent to a notch 104 in the wall 106 of the frame block, see FIG. 11. The spring 108 is bent at its lower end so that the wire can be pulled downwardly into the notch 104 and will be retained in the position shown in FIG. 9 during initial forward movement of the threading rod. While the bight in the wire is being formed, the end portion of the lead wire is pulled from the notch 104 and laid against the side of the threading rod.

At the beginning of the operating cycle, the coil spring 6 is positioned in the channel 50 with its left-hand end as viewed in FIG. 9 located against the surface of a stop plate 162 secured to the left-hand end (as viewed in FIG. 10) of the frame block 48. During the cycle, the spring is compressed and is held in a compressed condition while the terminal is being crimped onto the wire and while the primary slide 54 returns rearwardly to its starting position. The spring has a tendency to pop out of the channel while it is in a compressed condition and for this reason, it is desirable to provide a holddown plate which bears against the upper side of this spring and holds itin the channel. This holddown plate 114 (FIG. 14) extends through a notch 116 in the sidewall 106 of the frame block 48 and is integral with a downwardly extending flange 118. The flange section 118 extends downwardly in a recess 119 in the rearward side 62 of the frame block. At the lower end, the flange 118 extends forwardly through a notch 122 on the underside of the frame block 48. The flange portion 118 is pivotally mounted at its lower end on a pin I24 extending across notch 122 so that the holddown plate 114 can be moved arcuately upwardly and downwardly. The spring 6 is loaded in the channel 50 when the plate 114 is in its upper position and the spring being held in the channel when the plate 114 is in its lowered position. The lower flange 120 is normally biased downwardly as viewed in FIG. 14 by a spring 126 mounted in a block 128 secured in the recess 122. The holddown device is thus resiliently biased into engagement with the spring 6 as shown in FIGS. 9 and 14. At the beginning of the operating cycle, however, the holddown plate is held in its elevated position by means of a finger 130 on the end of a lever arm 132 (FIGS. and 12), the finger bearing against the underside of the flange portion 120 and holding it in an elevated position against the biasing force of the spring 126. The lever arm 132 is offset intermediate its ends as shown at 134 and is pivoted to the front plate at 136. A rearward extension 138 of the lever arm projects towards the rearward end of the frame block 48 and has a contoured upper edge 146 which is adapted to be engaged by a pin 142 having a roller 144 on its end. The pin 142 is integral with, and extends laterally from, the primary slide member 54 so that it moves forwardly with this primary slide member. The contoured upper edge 146 of the arm portion 148 is such that when'the primary slide 54 is in its retracted position, the arm 138 of the lever will be urged downwardly so that the arm 132 and the finger 130 will be urged upwardly and against the underside of the flange 120 whereby the holddown plate 114 is held in its elevated condition. Upon forward movement of the primary slide 54 and the camming pin 142, the lever 132, 138 is swung in a slight counterclockwise are about its pivotal axis 136 under the influence of a spring 140. One end of this spring is secured to the offset portion 134 of the lever and the other end is suitably anchored to the frame block 48 as shown in FIG. 12. It will be apparent from the appearance of the contoured upper edge 146 of the arm portion 138 that the finger 130 will move downwardly shortly after commencement of movement of the primary slide towards the crimping zone. The spring 6 disposed in the channel 50 will thus be held in the channel prior to compression of the spring by the secondary slide as will be described below.

After the crimping operation has been carried out and while the primary slide 54 is returning to its initial position (FIG. 9) it is desirable to hold the secondary slide 84 in its forward position and hold the spring 6 in a compressed condition as shown in FIG. 93. It will be remembered that when the secondary slide 84 is in its forward position, the elongated spring 102 tends to return to its nonnal position and without an auxiliary latching means, which will be described below, the secondary slide 84 will follow the primary slide rearwardly during the return stroke. The secondary slide 84 is latched in its forward position by means of the previously identified latch plate 80 in cooperation with a latching boss 160 on an arm 158 of a lever 154. This lever is pivotally mounted at 156 above the previously identified lever 132, 138 on the cover plate 52 and has an offset portion intermediate its ends which merges with a rearwardly extending arm 148. The underside of this rearwardly extending arm is also contoured as shown at 150 for cooperation with the camming pin 142, 144. A coil spring 152 has one of its ends secured to the end of the arm 148 of lever 154 and is secured at its other end to the frame block 48. This coil spring normally biases the lever 154 in a clockwise direction so that the latchingboss 160 is held in an elevated position. When the camming pin 142 is at the rearward limit of its travel, however, the arm 148 is held upwardly against the biasing force of spring 152 so that the'latching boss 160 on the opposite end of the lever is lower with respect to the path of movement of the latching plate 80. It will thus be apparent that when the primary slide 54 moves leftwardly from the position of FIGS. 9 and 10, the pin 142 will move beyond the contoured portion 150 of the edge of arm 148 and the lever 154 will be entirely under the influence of the spring 152. When the secondary slide 84 moves towards the crimping zone, the latching plate moves over the latching boss 160 of the forward arm 158 and the lever is swung through a slight counterclockwise arc during this interval. Subsequently, the spring 152 biases the lever in a clockwise direction so that the latching boss 160 lodges behind the latching plate 80 and holds the secondary slide 84 in its forward position. At the end of the cycle, the pin 142 again engages the contoured portion of the arm 148 and the latching boss is lowered to permit the secondary slide to return to its initial position under the influence of the spring 102.

As previously noted, a plate 162 (FIG. 10) is mounted against the left-hand end of the frame block 48 and functions as a stop at the end of the channel 50 against which the spring 6 is compressed. The plate 162 has a central opening in alignment with the axis of the threading rod 26 to permit passage of the threading rod therethrough and has a pair of opposed arcuate hoodlike guide members 166 on each side of this opening. The edges of these guides, which define an opening 168, are contoured as indicated at 169 (FIG. 10) to guide the terminal out of the crimping area and to guide the wire through the opening 168 when the completed assembly is removed from the apparatus after return of the secondary slide to its starting position.

When the threading rod 26 moves through the opening in the plate 162 and carries the wire bight towards the crimping zone of the applicator 44, as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, the wire should be lightly clamped against the side of the threading rod. This is accomplished by means of a leaf spring 170 (FIG. 11) which is adapted to resiliently bear against the side of the threading rod and which has an end portion 172 secured to the frame block adjacent to the forward end thereof.

The terminal applicator 44 and the press on which the applicator is mounted can be of conventional design and need not be described in detail for purposes of an understanding of the instant invention. Accordingly, only those structural features of the applicator and the press are disclosed and described below which are necessary for an understanding of the instant invention.

The terminals in strip form are fed over a feed platform 176 (FIG. 8) of the applicator by means of a feed finger 178 actuated by a piston rod 180. The terminal strip is guided by means of a guide 182 (FIG. 9) towards the anvil 174 which supports the leading terminals of the strip during the crimping operation. The leading terminal of the strip is erimped onto the wire 2 by a crimping die 188 and is severed from the next adjacent terminal by a suitable shearing blade 186. The shearing blade and crimping die are mounted on the lower end of the press ram shown at 40.

The previously identified pin 34 (FIGS. 2 and 3) by means of which the wire is aligned with the ferrule forming portion 20 of the terminal is mounted in, and depends downwardly from, an arm 190 ofa plate 192. As shown best in FIG. 9, this arm and the plate are located behind the anvil and the terminal-to provide clearance for the downward movement of the crimping die. The end of arm 190, in which pin 34 is mounted, is normally located above the left-hand end of the frame block 48. The plate 192 has an integral bushing 200 on its underside and a shaft 196 extends downwardly through this bushing and into a base block 198 mounted on the press platen 42, see FIG. 13. At its lower end, the shaft 196 extends through a bushing 204 in the base block and has a collar 202 mounted 

1. Apparatus for compressing a coil spring and confining said spring between two solid members, said members being connected by a wire or the like attached at each end to one of said members and extending axially through said spring, said apparatus comprising: applicator means for securing said wire to one of said members, supporting means for the other one of said members, threading rod means having a free end, wire-holding means on said free end of said threading rod means, said threading rod means being reciprocable along a predetermined path extending from a first position adjacent to said supporting means to a second position adjacent to said applicator means, abutment means on said path, said threading rod being movable relatively through said abutment means and said spring, said abutment means being effective to support the one end of said spring which is adjacent to said applicator means, and means for compressing said spring against said abutment means whereby upon positioning said wire in said wire-holding means when said threading rod is in said first position, movement of said threading rod relatively thrOugh said spring to said second position, compression of said spring against said abutment means, and actuation of said applicator, said wire is threaded through said spring, said spring is compressed, and said one of said members is secured to said wire and holds said spring in a compressed condition against said other one of said members.
 2. Apparatus for assembling a compressible spring to a lead wire extending from an electrical device, compressing said spring, and securing a terminal onto said wire whereby said spring is held in a compressed condition on said wire, said apparatus comprising: a terminal applicator adapted to secure a terminal to a wire, electrical-device-supporting means spaced from said terminal applicator, threading rod means having a free end, wire-holding means on said free end of said threading rod means, said threading rod means being reciprocable along a predetermined path extending from a first position adjacent to said electrical-device-supporting means to a second position adjacent to said terminal applicator, abutment means on said path, said threading rod being movable relatively through said abutment means and said spring, said abutment means being effective to support the one end of said spring which is adjacent to said terminal applicator, and means for compressing said spring against said abutment means whereby upon positioning said wire in said wire holding means when said threading rod means is in said first position, movement of said threading rod relatively through said spring to said second position, compression of said spring against said abutment means, and actuation of said terminal applicator, said wire is threaded through said spring, said spring is compressed, and a terminal is secured to said wire and holds said spring in a compressed condition.
 3. Apparatus as set forth in claim 2 including means for moving said electrical-device-supporting means towards said terminal applicator concomitantly with movement of said threading rod from said first position to said second position.
 4. Apparatus as set forth in claim 3 including spring-supporting means for supporting said spring on said path, said spring supporting means being between said abutment means and said electrical-device-supporting means.
 5. Apparatus as set forth in claim 4 wherein said spring-supporting means comprises said threading rod, said spring being telescopically movable onto said rod.
 6. Apparatus as set forth in claim 4 wherein said spring-supporting means comprises means adjacent to said free end of said rod when said rod is in said first position.
 7. Apparatus as set forth in claim 6 wherein said electrical-device-supporting means supports said electrical device with said wire extending transversely of said path, said threading rod being engageable with said wire during movement towards said terminal applicator.
 8. Apparatus as set forth in claim 5 wherein said electrical-device-supporting means is located adjacent to said free end of said threading rod where said rod is in said first position but offset from said path, said electrical-device-supporting means being laterally movable towards said path during movement towards said terminal applicator. 